Toffee Bars (a.k.a. Redneck Toffee)

If your New Year’s resolution had anything to do with dieting or healthy eating, please be warned. This post is not going to help you keep that one. Just go on somewhere else and forget you ever came here. Seriously. Turn away now!

Still here? Good…me, too.

This is a recipe that I first saw at a fellow food blogger’s site, She Wears Many Hats. The author of that blog is Amy, a wonderful writer, photographer, cook and wearer of multiple hats. If you’ve never visited her blog, go straight on over there and look around. You’re gonna love it. Amy calls this recipe Redneck Toffee and that’s a pretty apt title. It’s not like any candy I’ve ever had, but let me tell you…this stuff is good! So good it’s kind of addicting. Amy calls it “sin on a cracker” and she’s got that right. I made a batch of it for Christmas and it was the hit of the season. Since I was so busy in December, I just didn’t have time to take photos so I made up a new batch yesterday specifically for posting on the blog. BeeBop and I ate one piece each and I sent every bit of the rest with him to work this morning. Reports are that it was a hit there, too.

Here’s what you’re going to need to make your very own batch of sinful Redneck Toffee Bars.

35 saltine crackers
½ cup (1 stick) butter
½ cup packed light brown sugar
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

To toast the pecans: chop the pecans and place them in a small baking pan in a 350 degree oven. Cook for 5 minutes or until nuts are toasted. I know they’re toasted when I can smell them. That’s right. If you take them out of the oven when you first smell them, they’ll nearly always be toasted perfectly.

For the toffee: preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Place the crackers with the edges touching in a single layer in a small baking pan. Cook the brown sugar and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the butter is completely melted and mixture comes to a rapid boil.

Pour the hot mixture over the crackers and spread it out evenly with a wooden spoon or brush making sure to cover all the way to the edges of the crackers.

Bake for 5 minutes or until the topping is golden brown. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with the chocolate chips. Turn the oven off and place the pan back in the hot oven for 1 minute to soften the chocolate. Remove the pan from the oven and spread the chocolate evenly over the crackers. Sprinkle the top with nuts. I press down gently all over to make sure the nuts adhere to the chocolate layer.

Allow the mixture to cool completely until the chocolate has re-solidified. Break into pieces.

Enjoy!

Download a printable copy here.

Similar recipe may be found on Kraft Foods web site

Tagged as: brown sugar, butter, candy, confections, cooking, crackers, Desserts, Food, pecans, recipes, saltine crackers, Snacks, toffee